Shifting Sands
by Shadowsnake89
Summary: The young sandbender who stole Appa is now exiled from his village and, with a group of friends must now try to survive the desert as well as battle demons from his past.
1. Chapter 1

"That should hold you till the morning." a guard says as he fastens the prisoners locks to a pole in the center of a tent deep in the Si Wong desert. "Trials tomorrow. Better get some sleep if you can." He begins to laugh as he exit's the tent.

As he leaves he doesn't notice a young woman stealthily enter the tent. She silently makes her way over to the restrained prisoner who has his head down. His eyes seem to light up as she leans down to him. "Ghashiun, it's me, Yin."

"Hey, not that I'm not glad to see the Chief's daughter, but what are you doing here?"

She begins to blush and starts playing with her hair. "I… I came to ask you if you meant what you said? You know, about us having a future together."

"Of course I meant it. Every word of it. I love you. Sadly though I don't think your father's going to let that happen."

"He ..he doesn't have to. I could go with you to your tribe. Then we could be together."

"Yeah. Great idea. Hey can you get these chains off." Yin nods her head, pulls out a key and unlocks his shackles. "Good. Go pack whatever you need and meet me outside the east end of the camp in an hour. I'll be waiting for you." She kisses him and slips out of the tent as fast and quietly as she entered. "Ah, so young. So gullible." he says as he watches her leave. He steps outside and lifts up a torch being very careful not to draw the attention of anyone. He faces the desert on the west side of the camp and waves the torch back and forth. His message is soon responded to by another torch wave on a sand dune in the distance.

He uses the torch and sets the edge of the tent on fire. He then throws it as far as he can into the camp and it hits one of the other tents setting it ablaze. "Fire. Fire." the Hami tribe members yell as they try to put out the fire. Almost simultaneously other fires begin to start all around the camp. Amidst the panic no one notices Ghashiun make his way through to one of the tribes sand-sailors, where his gang is already waiting with sacks field with valuables from the camp. "What took you so long Yama." He asks jokingly.

"Just waiting for you." two of the others use their sand-bending to get the sailor started and they dart through the village. The group take the opportunity to mock the tribe members as they attempt to put out the fires, Ghashiun takes special pleasure in taunting their chief, Hong. "Hey, Hong, thank your pride and joy for tonight's entertainment." Hong turns to his daughter who looks away from her father, ashamed to look him in the eyes. Before he can react Ghashiun and his team are already out of sight, disappearing into the desert sands.

_The names Ghashiun. Just ripped off the Hami tribe again, got some sweet loot , and got a brand new sand-sailor out of the deal. I know what your thinking. I should feel bad for tricking little Yin. And you'd be wrong. Ends to a means. That's my motto and I'm sticking to it. I'm pretty lucky. Until now. You see recently I ripped off some travelers and stole their pet bison. Thing is it belonged to the Avatar. Long story short, three sand-sailors got smashed and now I'm on trial by the village elders, my father included._

"Ghashiun, you stand before this council accused of stealing from travelers yet again." The leader of the elders says as the group preside in a large tent with the rest of the village looking on. "Your actions brought the ostracism of the Avatar upon us and nearly killed us all. As such this council has decided to banish you from the tribe to wander the desert never to return. Have you anything to say for yourself."

"What do I have to say? All I can say. Good riddance to all of you. I sure won't miss this place." Ghashiun says, throwing his hands up and storming out of the chamber.

He makes his way to his tent and begins packing his things. As he attempts to stuff his pack with what food he can he senses someone behind him and turns to see his father Sha-mo behind him. "Thanks for defending me in their." he says with an arrogant tone. "You couldn't have said anything in their?"

"What could I have said. I've done all I could for Ghashiun and no matter what it's never been enough. Don't try to blame this on me. Don't make this my fault. Ever since your mother died I've tried to…"

"You shut up about her! You don't ever talk about her, not when you took in that harlot and that whelp!" He says referring to Anji, a woman in the village who had a son with a Fire Nation soldier and Jojin, her son from that relation. Sha-mo had married her about three years ago, a marriage Ghashiun had never accepted and openly showed his distain for.

"That's enough! You have no right!"

"You know what? I don't have to take this I'm leaving, moving on, and if I move to the farthest place on the planet and never see you again it'll still be too soon." He grabs his things and leaves the tent bumping into Jojin and his mother on the way out, forcing the two aside. "Get out of my way." He says before he walks out of the village and disappears into the desert in full view of the whole tribe.

"Sha-mo, are you alright?" Anji asks him as he sits on the cot in the room, broken down in tears as she and Jojin attempt to comfort him.


	2. Chapter 2

The dry desert wind kicks up sand in his face as Ghashiun continues his solo journey. It's been two days since he left his village and his small pack of provisions has been completely exhausted. The heat of mid-day makes it hard for him to breath, and he finally collapses to his knees from exhaustion. He stares blankly ahead into the seemingly endless landscape.

"Ghashiun, Ghashiun." a voice says as a sand tribe woman stands in front of him, her long dark hair blowing in the wind. The young bender immediately recognizes her as his deceased mother, Yulduz.

"Mom..? Help me." he says, his throat extremely dry making his voice very horse. The woman slowly begins to fade into the sands as he reaches out to her, tears rolling down his face. "Help. Don't leave me. Please, come back."

"Ghashiun, come on. Snap out of it." a sand bender says shaking Ghashiun to wake him as the latter can only see the mirage of his mother vanish completely. He eventually becomes aware of his surroundings and acknowledges the others presence. "Yama?" he says as his friend hands him a small jug of water that he quickly guzzles down. "What are you doing out here?"

"We couldn't let you go to die out here." Yama gestures behind him where four others are standing with an old sand-sailor. "Told the elders and your father if they banished you we were gone too."

"Thanks guys. Didn't think you'd risk that for me." Ghashiun says trying to regain his composure.

"Hey your our bro. No way we'd abandon you." another member, Rui says cheerfully.

"We should get moving." Ghashiun picks up a telescope one of the other sand benders, a rather husky young man named Ren, is holding and begins looking over the area.

"Yeah, no tribe, no real supplies, no real since of what to do…"

"You know Yama I hate it when you do that. So just tell me what's on your mind." Ghashiun says still looking through the telescope.

"I'm saying we need a plan. We can't just ride around the desert forever."

"Trust me my friend. This time I have a plan." Ghashiun and the others ride the sailor long into the night as he explains to them. "You know the money from all the stuff we sold." They all nod in agreement. "Well what we divvied up wasn't necessarily all of it. I may have taken a larger share and hid it in the desert."

"What?" They all say in unison. "You cheated us?"

"Irrelevant now back to the main topic. I saved it up just in case something ever happened. Like now. I made a map of the area. All we need to do is use the compass on the sailor to find it."

"Uh. We might have a problem then. This sailor doesn't have a compass. This is one of the ones the Avatar destroyed. We fixed it the best we could but the compass was useless."

Ghashiun bangs his hands on the side of the sailor. "Well that's great, how are we supposed to get to the treasure without a compass?" Just as he says this the sailor is hit from the side by a blast of sand that tips it over, knocking the group off. Ren and Yama are the first up only to be taken out by a sand wave that knock them down again, the attack thrown by a group of masked sand tribesmen. The last two members, Gan and Risho, retaliate making a synchronized sand twister. Three of the attackers use their sand bending abilities to glide over the sand before getting caught in the attack and thrown a short distance away. Despite their best efforts, the two are taken by surprise when an attack comes from their side, incasing them in a sand sphere leaving only there heads exposed.

Ghashiun and Rui are now the only two left standing as the gang of at least thirteen circle them. The leader of the group steps forward and speaks. "Ghashiun, it's been a while hasn't it?"

Ghashiun looks puzzled as he tries to recognize the attackers voice. "Do I know you?" he says as the leader removes the mask. He is shocked by who is under the mask. "Yin?"

She launches another sand wave that knocks him off his feet with Rui to panicked to do anything. "Ah, you remember me. I guess you also remember how you tricked me, stole one of my tribes sand-sailors, and lets not forget getting me banished from my tribe because I trusted you!" She creates a sand whip that grabs him by the leg throwing him through the air. "I actually believed everything you said. I thought for a second that someone like you actually had a heart." she slams him against the ground again and prepares to finish him. "I don't know or really care how you conned these misfits into coming with you but I actually have friends that volunteered to share my punishment." The other members of her group remove their masks to reveal that the entire group is made of females. "And now there going to help me get back at you." Yin morphs the sand into a large snake-like tube and shoots it toward Ghashiun. Rui comes in at the last second and redirects the attack, only to get slapped away by two of Yin's gang.

"Okay, I surrender." Ghashiun says, uncharacteristically giving up. The rest of his gang, now restrained, are understandably shocked.


	3. Chapter 3

_Ghasiun here. Yeah that's right, I surrendered. Why you might ask, well two reasons come to mind. One we're outnumbered, not really much we can do in this fight so why get killed over some pointless scuffle. Two, Yin's put together a pretty impressive group here. And she probably has a sailor with a compass on it. I figure if I tell them about the treasure it'll make us square about the whole incident. So here goes nothing, or everything depending on the outcome._

"You surrender? This better not be a trick." Yin says as her group looks on, already having rounded up his gang.

"No trick, you won already. You've gotten a lot better since the last time we met."

"Yeah the desert makes you stronger especially when you were as naïve as I was." She says, still ready to fight.

"Yeah but that was then. I'm sure you're not too naïve to know the deal of a lifetime." Ghasiun says with a sly expression. He proceeds to explain the situation to her and the group. After he is done explaining she looks at him suspiciously yet still intrigued.

"Well it does seem like a pretty good proposal. What do you think girls?" The girls converse among themselves and then agree. "Yeah it'll work. Besides we can always bury them if it's a bust."

"So we have a deal?" Ghasiun says as Yin extends her hand and they shake on it. The large group then departs on the female group's two sand-sailors, with Ghasiun and his friends riding with Yin on hers.

"So how have the last couple of months treated you? Not well it seems." Yin says to the young sand-bender as they head toward their destination.

"Uh, not bad, rode around, messed with some folks, stole from the Avatar…"

"Stole from the Avatar? Your nuts. I'm surprised he didn't vaporize you then and there."

"You know me. Always taking risks."

"Yeah, about that. You know when I let you go last time I actually did believe that you were coming back. I waited, even during my trial thinking you'd blast in and take me away to some exciting life. I guess I was just naïve to think that." Before Ghasiun can respond the sailor is struck from below and shot through the air.

"Death worm!" the pilot of the other sailor yells as it too is hit and flipped over tossing the passengers over the landscape. The beast emerges from the sand revealing itself, a large worm creature with a circular gapping maw full of teeth. "Come on we gotta get out of here!" Ren says as he tries to help two of the female benders up. The trio run a short distance before they are caught in the beast's mouth and swallowed.

"Come on everybody we need a plan." Yama says as he gets to his feet trying to lead the survivors to safety. Ghasiun on the other hand rushes toward the creature, which heads for the tipped over sailors. "Come on it's not worth it." He ignores his friend's warnings and continues forward. Yin joins him skating over the sand. "Here follow me. Just do like me." She says as he complies and follows the motions until he is gliding over the surface like her.

As they reach the sand-sailor they leap forward to grab the compass on it. Before they can pull it out however the worm's mouth falls over them and the beast disappears back into the sand, with Yama and the rest of the group look on in disbelief. As they begin to discuss what to do next Gan, Risho, and Rui look over the horizon. "Hey you guys look at this." Risho says as the worm breaches and then falls over on top of the sand and then falls motionless. The group rushes over to the creature and begin to inspect it. A trio of the female sand benders look into the mouth, than with a surprised tone call out to the rest of the benders. Everyone rushes over to see Ghasiun and Yin emerge from the worm with the compass in hand. Following them are Ren and the two other benders, all of them covered in the worm's bodily fluids.

Ghasiun walks a short distance from the creature before he falls to the ground and lays on his back in exhaustion. Yin lies next to him and starts to laugh lightly. "Wow, now that was crazy."

"Hey it's just an average day for me." He says as he laughs too still holding the compass.

"And that's why I love you." She suddenly jumps on him and kisses him. To his own surprise he doesn't pull back as they embrace for a few seconds. The rest of the group look on both surprised and happy at the same time. Ren attempts to put his arm around one of the girls who survived the attack only to get slapped in the face. "Don't even think about it." She says as the group look up to see a large dust cloud coming their way. Ghasiun and Yin rise as the cloud separates into four sand sailors that circle the group. Upon a closer look they see it is the Hami tribe, with Hong riding in front. The Chieftain jumps down from the sailor and immediately approaches his daughter.

"It seems you've redeemed yourself. You've delivered our old enemy right to us." He launches a sand wave at Ghasiun, knocking him off his feet as the rest of his group attack Yama and the others, with Yin's group looking on as she is confused as to who she should side with. After a short fight Ghasiun is pinned down along with Gan and Ren, as the others flee into the desert. "Let them leave. They are nothing without their leader. And this time I think we'll skip the trial this time and go straight to the execution." Hong steps on the young sand bender's head who looks angrily at Yin who turns her head away.

In the center of the camp, Ghasiun and the other two are strung up on a large wooden frame by his hands over a large fire pit. In the distance Yin sits by herself as she watches on. As she sits there one of the girls, Cai sits next to her. "Hey." She says to her as she watches the proceedings. Yin doesn't respond as she is still turned away from the execution. "You're not going to let this happen are you. I remember you told me you loved him. Did you really mean that? Cause if you do and you want to do something we're with you." Cai gets up and leaves her to think on it.

"Hey can we get this over with and cut all the dramatics." Ghasiun says as Hong steps forward and prepares to cut the rope and let him plummet into the fire. Just before that can happen a sand wave strikes the chieftain from the side knocking him over as the rest of Ghasiun's group returns to free him. Yama takes the lead and attempts to free their leader only to be blocked by three of the guards as Rui and Risho emerge from the sand to sneak attack them and take out four of the guards. They manage to shoot sand bullets and push a wave of sand under Gan and Ren that free them and allow the two to join the fight. They soon find out however that they are completely surrounded by Hong's group. "So this was your brilliant plain Yama?" Ghasiun says still suspended.

"Hey it was Risho's idea for your information." As the team prepares to be soundly defeated, half of Hong's group is knocked down as Yin and her friends jump in and attack.

Yin jumps in front of Ghasiun and cuts him down. "I see you've just been hanging around."

"No jokes please. I think those ropes broke my wrist. I think we should get out of here." Hong attacks from the side with a sand wave, but Yin deflects it and leaps at her father. "Let's go boys!" he says to Yama as he and the rest of the group dash off into the desert as the camp erupts into chaos. After they get a long ways off Ghasiun stops and sits on the sand and looks into the sky. Just then Rui hands him the compass from earlier. "I think that went well don't you?"

"Yeah, really a great plan. We still have no allies, no sailors, and the compass so we can get the treasure and end up nowhere…" Yama says.

"Once again I hate it when you do that. Just spit it out."

"You don't think you should have stayed to help them out." 

"She betrayed us to her old man."

"And she came back to help us."

"What's your point?"

"You already lost one family, and now you're going to walk out on the chances of having a new one. Look I'm not the smartest guy in the world but what's the worst that could happen by taking a chance on this." Yama says as Ghasiun begins to think.

"That went well I think." Yin says to her group, who are battered and beaten from the fight as they travel on their single sand sailor. "So what do we do now?"

"For now I think we need to find that little toad-rat and tear his little…" one of the girls, Ji says before she is cut off by Cai.

"Just forget him. He made his choice and we made ours, and we just have to live with that. End of story." Yin says just as they see a light in the distance. As they approach the light they stop and see Ghasiun's group, with several large trunks, heading toward them with a torch waving it back and forth.

"Hey ladies, where've you been? We've been looking for you for hours." Ren says making eyes at Ji who coldly ignores him.

Ghasiun then steps forward , makes his way over to Yin, then kisses her. She responds by slapping him in the face. "What kept you?" she says as she kisses him back.

He responds by placing a long gold necklace on her. "Just wanted to get you the perfect engagement gift." She looks a bit surprised at first and then smiles at him. "Love it." She says as she kisses him again.

_Yeah, it's been a good few couple of months since then. We've been doing pretty good as a group, doing a lot of a business with the traders out here. And the groups getting stronger every day. We're always getting new members, always someone out there whose made a mistake, gotten lost, or just wants to strike out on their own. All in all everyone's getting along and I are expecting our first child in the next few months, Yama and Cai are together, and Ren's been lucky enough to find a girl who's willing to deal with him. _

_The name's Ghasiun and I'm pretty lucky, more so now than ever._


End file.
